Guess what? The groundhog predicted an early spring!
That’s right, on February 2nd Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow and did not see his shadow. Don’t get too excited, he’s usually wrong. But just in case… let’s make sunnies!
First, buy your supplies
We buy 18” doll glasses or infant frames because we only weigh seven pounds, but bigger dogs have more options! You can find lots of choices online, or just try your local dollar store. There are so many options out there, so we like to pick out the outfit we plan to match, so we don’t get overwhelmed with all the fun choices.
You can decorate your glasses with flowers, novelty bits or jewels. We went sassy and wild, using novelty buttons, and glitter on dollar store glasses.
It can be difficult to work with small items, so Mom made it a bit easier by making a work station. She cut an opening in a box the length of the glasses.
Lay out your design
First, place your glasses in the work box, but before you do, give them a good polish. Once you glue the gems and jewels on it won’t be as easy, so do it now. Next, layout your design by playing with the placement before glue makes it permanent. We like to put a piece of fabric behind the frames so you can pick colors that pop.
Glitter the frames
Dip your paintbrush in Mod Podge, then pick up some glitter from a small pile you have laid out. Paint the mixture on your frames in the desired thickness. It will look white until it dries.
Glue on your novelty pieces
For this step, we used Dress it Up Buttons, but we had to cut off the shank before placing them. This separates the elements of the charm, so make sure to glue the pieces together first. Next we squeeze a drop of glue on the frame where we want to place our buttons. The trick here is to let the glue thicken and dry a bit before placing your novelty item on the frame. You might have to hold it in place for a minute since it might slide around as it dries. Just move it back into place if it does. Once everything dries in place, add glue from behind to permanently cement the charms, and let it dry.
Add an elastic band
Next, tie elastic to the arms, and then cover the knot with glue. Measure the length you need by placing the glasses on your dog. Let the glasses completely fry for a few hours.
Clean-up
Did glue get in the hinges? Take a pin and pick out any clumps, being careful not to remove glue holding the charms in place. Did you get some glue on the lens? Once completely dry, you can easily nudge it off.
You’re almost done! Our favorite designer and the world’s most elegant human, Coco Chanel, offered her people this advice when dressing with accessories: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” We took off the charms over the bridge of the nose.
That’s how you make your own sunnies. Make some and share them with us at #DoggieD.I.Y. and come back next week. We’ll show you how to make our favorite duckie hat.
xoxo
Woofie & BeaR